


Exhausted

by Annieeee



Series: Healing with Hogwarts (and Percy Weasley) [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Hurt Percy Weasley, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Not Beta Read, Oliver Wood is a Good Friend, Oliver Wood is also Best Boy, Percy Weasley Needs a Hug, Percy Weasley and Oliver Wood, Percy Weasley is (and I cannot stress this enough) Best Boy, Pre-Slash, Self-Harm, So Do I tbh, We Die Like Men, can be read as platonic too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:16:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28675815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annieeee/pseuds/Annieeee
Summary: Percy has been distant and just been extremely tired recently. Oliver wanted to give his best mate his space and privacy but after a short conversation with a second year, Oliver decides to check up on his friend.can be read as platonic, pre-slash
Relationships: Percy Weasley/Oliver Wood
Series: Healing with Hogwarts (and Percy Weasley) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2101683
Comments: 9
Kudos: 92





	Exhausted

**Author's Note:**

> I hate writing but I love having written  
> Literally super self-indulgent. Only self-indulgent. I am a maladaptive daydreamer and this was going to stay in my head with my daydreams but the Percy Weasley community really out here surviving on crumbs so this my contribution mwah.

“Uh um, excuse me?” A soft voice startled Oliver out of his thoughts,  
“Hmm?” he looked up from the mindless doodles of quidditch players that he had been drawing on the side of his transfiguration essay. A second year Hufflepuff girl, Oliver recognized as one of younger years that Percy often helped tutor. Oh great, this was what? The 10th person to ask him about Percy?

Percy may be known as the snotty prefect who loved to stick to rules and was no fun but he was also a little popular among the lower years of all houses because he never turned away to help them in school work if they ever needed it. He also sort of had an unofficial tutoring study group every Wednesday after school hours in the library. 

“Can I help you?” Oliver asked the younger Hufflepuff, already knowing what she was going to ask, 

“You’re Percy Weasley’s friend, right?” she asked shyly, her fingers fidgeting with her long black hair that hung in a thick braid. 

“Yup, he’s up in our dorm taking a nap and I don’t want to disturb hi-” 

“Uh-no, it’s okay, I just-” She cut herself off. Oliver smiled a confused and hopefully encouraging smile at her, waiting for her to continue. He really needed to learn her name. 

Blinking rapidly and taking a deep breath the girl continued, “The other day, he was helping me understand some concept in charms that I didn’t understand and just- you know how his robes are slightly baggy? They usually engulf his arms, but that day they were slightly riding up and,”  
Oliver’s heart rate picked up.  
“I didn’t see much, but his skin is so pale! The cut looked so angry and red against them and- Oh no I’m sorry this was a bad idea!” 

“No, it’s okay! Continue, I am so glad you came and told me, I’ve been having some suspicions but…”  
“No, I don’t know, I can’t assume, he could’ve just gotten hurt somehow, I didn’t even see it properly cause I flinched away, you know what happened right? So they just brought up all these memories-Ah I’m sorry,” His eyes widened, of course, he knows what happened. There had been rumors around the beginning of the year. Some 1st year student, who also had an elder sister in the 2nd year, had slit her wrists in the 3rd floor girl’s washroom. The student was okay but was now suspended. He remembered that although a Gryffindor the student’s sister was a Hufflepuff. Oh.

“I just, I don’t know? Is this crossing a boundary? It’s not my place but I was hoping that someone could check up on him?” 

Oliver let out a deep breath from his mouth and nodded, “Yes of course. We won’t assume anything but I’ll still check up on him and ask, okay?” the second year nodded  
“And,” he hesitated a little, “Are you okay?”  
She startled a bit, not having expected to be asked that,  
“ I-I-I’m fine, I’m good,” she stuttered out, “I’m okay that’s all! I’m sorry again!”

Oliver nodded and dismissed her, not quite believing her but not wanting to intrude, he began to stand up and put his things away, ”Don’t be sorry, thank you for telling me. I’ll let him know that you were worried and-”

“Uh- please...don’t tell him I said anything,” She blushed and looked away,

Oliver raised an eyebrow at that,, looks like Percy had an admirer from the second year. 

“Okay, I won’t. Thank you again, I’ll be going now,” and with that, he left the library, determined to find and talk to Percy. 

On his way to the Gryffindor tower, Oliver let his thoughts wander over to the red-haired boy. Percy had been distant from him for a few days and had been seeming slightly frazzled. Nobody else would’ve noticed and would’ve just seen the picture-perfect persona he had created of himself but Oliver knew. The slight differences like Percy taking 5 minutes longer to get out of bed than usual as if he was dreading to face the world, how he almost went to breakfast without bothering to comb his hair but stopped himself right at the last moment to turn back around and dress himself up properly and look more professional and well-groomed. There had been slight exhaustion and tiredness in his every move, it was barely noticeable but it was there. He could see the slight tiredness and dullness in Percy’s usually sharp eyes. 

Before he knew it, he was back at the tower. Climbing in through the portrait he stopped briefly to acknowledge the Weasley twins who were sitting off in a corner with Lee Jordan, no doubt plotting their next big prank. The thought of getting the twins involved crossed his mind for a moment before he decided that was a terrible idea, or at least it was too soon. He would talk to Percy by himself first. 

He made his way to the dorm that he shared with the prefect and entered with a determined look in his eyes as if he was trying to work on a very important quidditch play. 

The dorm was still and silent and Oliver almost would’ve thought that there was nobody there if it weren’t for the heavy breathing coming from behind the drawn curtains of Percy’s bed. That was another concerning thing Oliver had observed the past few weeks. The number of naps that Percy had been taking. He managed to keep up his prefect duties and still handed in his assignments on time but every free moment which he usually used to spend doing extra studying or talking to Oliver was now being spent asleep. At first, Oliver had thought that maybe Percy was just extra tired from all the workload and strain he always puts on himself, but the other boy had been completely avoiding Oliver. In fact, Oliver had barely seen him talk to anybody at all.  
Yesterday, the usual study group at the library was a little disappointed and many people had approached him asking where Percy had been. Oliver was surprised, realizing for the first time exactly how, contrary to popular belief, well-liked Percy was. Percy was Oliver’s best mate, you had to at least have some sort of relationship when sharing a dorm for so many years but even then Oliver hadn’t been able to talk to him.

Oliver hesitantly approached Percy’s bed and pulled aside the Gryffindor red curtains. Percy lay on his side in a fitful nap. He hadn’t even bothered to take off his glasses and they lay perched uncomfortably pressed against his face. He was breathing heavily and looked to be in light sleep, far from restful. He hated to do this, but Oliver knew he needed to wake him up. 

“Percy? Hey Perce,” he lightly tapped the sleeping boy’s shoulder.

“W-what?” Percy woke up with a start, rubbing his nose where his glasses were digging into the bridge of his nose. He blinked in surprise at the other boy,

“Oliver?”  
“Hey, Perce,”  
“Do you need anything?” Percy asked, slightly confused.  
“Yes, I do actually. We need to talk,” Percy looked slightly more awake now,  
“Is it urgent?”  
“Yes. Percy, how are you?” Oliver took a seat beside the redhead who was now sitting up on his bed and he wasted no time and cut to the part.  
The other boy tilted his head in confusion, “Oli? I don’t understand,”  
Oliver couldn’t help but notice how devoid of emotions Percy sounded. It wasn’t cold but too tired to really react kind of empty of emotions.  
“Perce,” Oliver didn’t know how he was going to approach this. His specialty was sports not the emotional heart to heart.  
“I’ve noticed you’ve been very tired lately, I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to pry and I know you have a knack for working yourself to exhaustion a lot,” Oliver didn’t know how was going to bring up the conversation he had with the second year. 

“Ah, Oliver I’m sorry for worrying you. I have been tired, It’s all the extra wor-”  
“That’s hippogriff shit!” 

Both Percy and Oliver were surprised at Oliver’s outburst. But once he started, Oliver didn’t stop.  
“What extra work? You’re literally doing the bare minimum. Others might not notice but I do, I see what you’re doing, you’re doing just enough to avoid suspicion but I can see right through you,”

“You’re barely studying extra, you don’t answer questions in class unless directly asked and you’ve stopped bothering your brothers to do their work and you take longer to get out of bed and get ready for the day!” 

“Oliver these are hardly things to worry about, you’re blowing it out of proportion,” Percy tried to explain himself,

“And besides, aren't you happy I’ve stopped bothering others to study or do their homework? I thought you’d be relieved now, and it’s not like it makes a big difference,”

“But it does! Do you know how many students have asked me where you’ve been? If you were okay? I don’t know if you’ve noticed but you have some admirers in the lower years. They look up to you because you’re always ready to help them with their work or to talk, you have no idea how disappointed they were when you weren’t there yesterday for the group study,”

“Oliver come on, surely my absence didn’t make a big difference, it isn’t even an official thing! There really is nothing wrong,” Percy cut himself off with a sigh, “i’ve just been tired. Very tired,” he continued.

“Is there any way I can help?” Oliver felt pathetic at how helpless he felt. He didn’t know what to say or do. 

“I-I don’t know,” Percy lifted his hand up to push back his red curls,his huge long sleeves falling to reveal his freckled dainty wrists. Oliver gulped at the sight but pushed any other thoughts to the back of his mind when his eyes landed on a thin long angry red cut. 

“I thought if I just took a tiny break and did only what I had to, I would feel better but, I’m not tired of the work- well I am, but it’s,” Percy seemed oblivious to what he had accidentally revealed to Oliver. “It’s more like I am tired of waking up every day. I feel nothing but deep exhaustion and dread and I don’t want to get up because of the absolute hopelessness of the world being so big and my life being insignificant and I’m sorry,” Percy suddenly seemed to snap out of it, he looked horrified at himself. 

“I spoke too much, ah Oli, I just haven’t been sleeping well-” 

“No, you’ve spoken enough. Oh, Godric Perce do you not see how much you mean to people around you?” Oliver was horrified at Percy too. Did Percy not know how significant he was to the people around him? 

“Why didn’t you say anything? Okay listen, I don’t know how I can make you feel better or help you-”

“There is no nee-”

“Don’t say that there is no need!” Oliver grabbed Percy's hand and pulled out between them.  
“Percy? What’s this?” The dark maroon red was bright against his pale skin. 

Percy knew a losing battle when he saw one. He was too numb and tired to feel emotions anyway. He didn’t even try to deny it.

“I wanted to feel something,” he said instead. 

“Did it help?” Is all Oliver asked, 

“I felt shame and I hated myself, so I didn’t do it again, but see! This means I’m fine, I-”

“Percy. You said you’re tired of living, just because you didn’t self-harm much, doesn’t automatically mean you’re okay,”

“But I-”

“Please just listen to me,” Oliver begged. Percy stared at Oliver in annoyance but reluctantly nodded, 

“Let’s, Let’s talk to someone okay? No, don’t even try to cut me off now, listen to everything I have to say first.” Oliver shut down the other boy before he even had a chance. 

“There could be many reasons why you started feeling this way, and your feelings are valid. If you feel hurt, you deserve to feel better-if you argue with me, I can and will get the twins involved,” which shut Percy up again when Oliver noticed him opening his mouth to speak. The boy just let out an annoyed huff which was absolutely adorable in Oliver’s opinion.

“You deserve to feel better and you are important to people around you,” Oliver paused to let the words hang in between them for a few moments. 

“You can ask for help and you don’t have to be alone, there are people who care about you so much! Your family, all the people you tutor, me! Heck, I am pretty sure this second year Hufflepuff even has a slight crush on you,” Percy’s cheeks flared up at that. 

“Don’t be rid-” 

“Shut up and listen! The point is, we miss our old pompous Percy and we want you to be happy. Just, you matter a lot, to me and to many people, seeing you so exhausted at the very idea of waking up hurts all of us,” Oliver begged Percy to believe him. 

“You deserve to feel better and you are important to people around you,” he repeated his words from earlier. He looked at Percy with so much desperation and emotion behind his eyes and he was almost shaking. He really needed Percy to know how much he mattered. He wasn’t good with words at all but he hoped it at least got the message across. 

Percy blinked once. Then twice. And then he was removing his glasses and scrubbing at his eyes trying to stop the tears.

“Percy?” 

“Oliver, I’m- I don’t know what to say,”

“Then don’t, it’s okay, I am here just tell me what you need,”

“Oliver,” Percy said through the tears he was trying (failing) to stop but Oliver didn’t mention it.

“Yes?” 

“Thank you,”

“Perce you don’t need to thank me you’re my best friend and I’ll always be there for you even if I am terrible at this,” 

“Terrible? You’re doing great, what are you talking about?” 

“Then nevermind,” Percy giggled at that and then the two boys lapsed into a comfortable silence.

After a few moments though, Percy couldn’t help but ask, 

“Is it true people were asking about me?” 

Oliver rolled his eyes, “The Ravenclaws especially, how can you even imagine your presence wasn’t missed,” but he got serious again, “But seriously, this Slytherin was so disappointed when you didn’t show up. He said he wanted to thank you, said his parents were so happy he managed to get his grades up this month and he didn’t receive a howler”

“Oh,” Percy turned away, once again overwhelmed. He was feeling still exhausted but also a little lighter. The hole in his chest was still very much gaping and heavy and pulling him down but sometimes just knowing how much your existence truly positively impacts others can help slightly ease the weight of responsibilities and exhaustion that comes with existing.

**Author's Note:**

> i hate it but i have school tomorrow and it's 1 am. i hate my writing so much i might just cry. I'm not saying this ironically lol I hate this and I hate my writing:D


End file.
